Ah yes. Can’t wait ’til 1-20-09. And I’m hoping against hope that Barack Obama will be Shrub’s replacement, but that’s probably too good to be true. The Republican grinches will see to it that another Christmas (election) will be stolen and we’ll have some cynical crusty war-monger in the White House instead. Ah well…I guess we could do worse than McCain, at least he seems to get it somewhat with regard to global warming, for one…

Would it bother anyone if an anti-trans person showed up on this board, and posted some nasty commentary that spoke badly of our population? I’m guessing that it would. I think that all of us would prefer that people kept such opinions to themselves, especially since expressing those opinions tends to make trans people afraid, insecure and emotionally abused.

The same goes for political speech. Not everyone shares the kinds of left-leaning political belief that often grace this board, and when postings express such dogmatic, in-your-face kinds of opinions, it makes a few members of this board very uncomfortable. I don’t mind that you don’t share my political beliefs, but when the comments turn the corner into personal, vicious attacks against conservatives, it tends to drive me away from the discussion. These comments are not intellectual analyses. They’re carefully directed diatribes that are crafted to insult, hurt and belittle people who think differently. How is this any different from members of the far religious right who attack trans people with their own brand of hateful invective?

I suppose that it depends on what yâ€™all are trying to accomplish. If youâ€™re letting off steam, and going for some â€œget-backâ€ from the ruling party, then I guess youâ€™re succeeding just fine. If however youâ€™re trying to help others to understand your positions on things – to allow them to empathize with your perspective, youâ€™re failing miserably. When I read these kinds of posts, I get defensive, and am unlikely to listen to even the most intellectually crafted argument.

Even though it would be tremendously emotionally satisfying for me, I donâ€™t post nastiness about Clinton or Obama because I know that it would upset the majority of the membership of this board. Is it unreasonable to expect the same from everyone else?

Well…I *did* say that we could do worse than McCain, which is much nicer than many on the right are being toward Hillary, Obama, etc. And I didn’t really mean to attack or offend authentic, genuine conservatives. I *did* however attack the neo-conservatives like Bush and the fringe movement within the Republican party that seem intent on dismantling democracy, civil liberties, etc.

I don’t mind criticism, especially since you’re right about the loss of personal liberty, democracy and freedom. You even forgot huge government spending increases, loss of personal property rights, irresponsible business practices, and out-of-control government police power. Most of my conservative friends are not thrilled with the current direction of the Republican party. I merely have a problem when the commentary starts getting nasty, personal and rude. There are ways to find fault with the Bush administration, the Republican party, conservatives and the right wing while avoiding ad-hominem attacks.

That’s all I was trying to say. We in the trans community know what it’s like to be the recipients of these kinds of personal attacks. We ought to be strong enough not to do the same thing when we’re in a position to do so.

Well, as a liberal I don’t mind government spending increases, *if* the money is spent wisely. However, this president has frittered away billions of dollars on an ill-advised war. And since I don’t own property to speak of, I’m not that concerned about the loss of personal property rights. Otherwise though, we are in agreement on a lot of things…